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Ripley’s Gatlinburg Attractions: A Review in Three Parts, Part 3 (Guinness World Records)
I’m including the same intro and review before and after each of these three reviews. You can read our family’s Mirror Maze Review here and our 5D Moving Theatre Review here. _________________ Gatlinburg in the winter is a different sort of town than Gatlinburg in the summer. When we took our recent adventure to the mountain town, we found it sleepy and quiet and that’s exactly the way we liked it. Traffic was minimal (except for the weekend) and the streets were not overcrowded and the restaurants had no wait time. Again – that’s exactly what we love – especially when we are always a party of six (at least) and generally…
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never and always . . . words on parenting
In one of their songs, the Wood Brothers sing a lyric that says, “Sometimes I feel like I’m never and always alone.” In some ways, I think that’s the anthem of motherhood, particularly for the mother of young children. You’re never actually alone. Fingertips are reaching under the door of the bathroom, for the love. And yet the early years of motherhood can be some of the loneliest years of a mom’s life. You remain unconvinced that anyone else really understands how hard it is to begin (and to lose) a battle with a toddler or to negotiate snack time or to change eighty bazillion diapers or to read…
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the light that shines.
Recently I ate dinner at a wonderfully fancy restaurant. It was a perk of this new gig and it was fun. (I giggled at myself a little inside though. I was served oysters and bone marrow and beef cheeks and scallops and pork belly and champagne with fizzing pearls of sugar and chocolate covered strawberries with gold dusted on them and yet, I live in a house with approximately three Mount Rushmores of sullied laundry due to the dryer’s week long refusal to cooperate with the game plan and there is an unwelcome mouse in my kitchen, a dining room table often loaded with school books and notebooks and art…
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after the theatre, over the weekend
Sometimes on Sunday evenings when I sit down to write a blog post I have high aspirations of coming out strong and delivering some meaningful words. But by the time I finish tucking the kids in and telling each child what we will be eating for every single meal the next day (the members of my household are very food-centric currently) and getting our house ready for the week ahead and then finally sit down, I’m all out of clever and meaningful. Tonight I popped myself a bowl of popcorn, prepared myself a cup of vanilla tea and pretended like my evening plans of school prep and meal prep…
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Five Finds Friday (some photos & what Otto thinks about fruit cups)
This week has been full. But you already know that. And here we are again —- Friday! FUNNY First, from a former “funny” entry, I’ve had such a good time hearing your thoughts and comments about my brother Danny’s fishing video. My framily member Maggie said her two year old son is addicted to watching Danny catch that big one. He has a new video up here and he’ll probably have a few more this week. He got a little distracted this week from fishing videos because he became a GRANDPA! What? How can the majority of my siblings and I be grandparents already?? Now, on…
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the state of my fingernails and this one TV show and capital letter B Busy
You guys, this week has been Busy. (I signified the amount of busy by using the capital B at the beginning of the word busy. That’s how you know the week has been full.) I should be doing a half dozen other things right now. Like all that laundry. Who has been wearing so many clothes this week, for the love? This week a large portion of my children are participating in a week long theatre camp. It’s great. They’re loving it. I’m finding it educational and fun and beneficial for them. And every day we have to rise early to get a portion of school work finished at…
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Love Him Anyway: A Book Review and a Blog Tour
It was a first for me. An unsolicited invitation in my email inbox. “Would you like to read this book and review it?” I think I might have said yes just based on the sheer novelty for me of the question. Also, I like reading books and I already write frequent reviews for what I pick up from the library book shelf on my own. So this seemed like a perfect opportunity. The publisher is local and the author has local ties as well. (And you all know how I feel about local.) As it turns out, it was actually a little more than just a request to read…
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Five Finds Friday (a homemade hamburger bun and a novel thrice read)
It’s been one of those weeks that has been both filled and empty. Both speedy and long. And now it’s over. (This week, I mean.) FUNNY You can have two funnies this week. Buy one get one free. The Lego Batman movie. It was indeed rather hilarious – even to a non-cartoon fan such as myself. And the second funny — In our small group this week there was a neat activity where everyone had a piece of paper with their name on it. The paper was passed around and everyone had a chance to write encouraging words or a sweet sentiment for that person on their…
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how a year round schedule is saving our homeschool. (and me.)
Two years ago the Wildwood Halls of Ivy (that’s our fancy registered homeschool name) switched it up. We started doing school year round. I’d say the year round aspect of school has been a complete success. I’m so glad we made the shift. I only wish I had done year round school always. The first year we tried year round our schedule (and our life) was in quite a bit more upheaval than it currently is and our weeks off were wildly flexible. God was gracious and that free time fit our needs more organically and fluidly when the occasion called for it. It worked, but I wouldn’t call…
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Ripley’s Gatlinburg Attractions: A Review in Three Parts, Part 2 (The 5D Moving Theatre)
I’m including the same intro and review before and after each of these three reviews. You can read our family’s Mirror Maze Review here. _________________ Gatlinburg in the winter is a different sort of town than Gatlinburg in the summer. When we took our recent adventure to the mountain town, we found it sleepy and quiet and that’s exactly the way we liked it. Traffic was minimal (except for the weekend) and the streets were not overcrowded and the restaurants had no wait time. Again – that’s exactly what we love – especially when we are always a party of six (at least) and generally tables for six are…
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what bok choy can do . . .
Bok Choy. Until a few weeks ago I don’t think I had ever heard of it. London and I took a cooking class together and it was one of the foods we learned to prepare. It’s leafy (kind of) and green and we learned to prepare it simply by basically wilting it with olive oil and salt over heat. We served it up alongside our Chinese meal of potstickers and meatballs at our class. Following our class I’ve been seeing bok choy everywhere. I picked up some last week when we reinvented our Chinese meal at home with everyone and Piper and Otto were in charge of the “wilting”.…
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A Call To Support Marriages
I’ve thought about how to introduce this video challenge I am sharing today. But I just can’t seem to find the words I want. Valentine’s Day can be so cheesy – and this isn’t cynical Lacey or a jaded person typing. I’ve always found the hearts and the cupids surrounding February 14 to be contrived and manufactured. (I have, however saved one Valentine’s card from fifth or sixth grade. It was a sniff and smell kind and on the front was an orange. You can probably guess what lame joke accompanied the orange. I have no real idea why that singular card has been saved all of these long…
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Five Finds Friday (two videos & BBQ chicken & a full circle story)
At one point in this week I was like, “What?? It’s only Tuesday? No. I have lived more than two days already this week. It must be Friday.” So now here I am at Friday and I think this week took two weeks instead of one. What I’m saying is, friends, I don’t know how your house is faring, but it’s been a long week over at my house. I’m pulling into the weekend with an empty tank but hopeful for rest at the end of this week. FUNNY You might think I’m the funny one in my family. What? Someone might think that. I AM…
